Rules and Regulations

Before you begin (basics)

Everyone in the RPG starts with 1 basic Level 5 pokémon of an approved species - no legendaries. If you are unsure of why your basic pokemon hasn't been approved, check the pokedex pages to see if it has a 'pre-evolution' in this game.

Legendary Pokemon

Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, Ho-oh, Lugia, Celebi, Mewtwo and Darkius (see the first Log for Lake Eerie) are not playable pokemon in this game, but may be played and appear in times of 'need' if desired by the game's owner.

Entei, Raikou and Suicune will be regarded as extremely rare pokemon, but no different from other pokemon in regards to power. Players start with our Pre-Evolutions to these pokemon, and may not have more than 1 Legendary Dog or use a Legendary dog to begin in the game.

The Pre-Evolution names are:

Suicune = Frost
Raikou = Denkiko
Entei = Kajiko

Character Sheet

Before posting in the RPG, you must have a character approved by the Lake Eerie staff. To get this done, just fill out the character sheet for the character you have in mind. You will be notified when it is approved. If you've waited several days and heard nothing, drop us a line (we may have most likely been involved with offline matters).

Once the sheet is approved, this character is now your PC. PCs are Player Characters - only you may post for them, and they gain XP (experience points).

Beginning in the game

Firstly, come up with a basic story, such as a meeting with a friend or a small event, if you have too much difficulty getting started let us know and we'll give you a hand. You can email a moderator or post your problem/question on the Non-Lake Eerie list.

Interaction

If you want to interact with another player, put yourself in an appropriate position to do so and see if they make a move. Otherwise get their email address from the list and email them personally.

When interacting with others, it is the character's player that decides how the character will react. This applies to all interaction, from speaking to fighting. You may not post for anyone else's character (unless asked to do so by that player).

1- Use the third person (IE: The nidoran sniffed the grass then nibbled it.) when posting for your character.

2-The subject of your post should include the Coordinates of your characters on the Map it is using. (IE: Underground [C-3] Stone-na Fleck Seeks out his Past)

3- Proper Role-Play manners require players to wait for a reaction in interaction. In other words, don't bulldoze over another character simply because that character's player doesn't post back as fast as you can. Lake Eerie RPG is proud to have active players from all over the world =). Give them a little time and consideration for when they may be asleep or at work. However, if you do find yourself unable to maintain your character with another player's character, find a way to excuse your character from interaction. (Like hunting, or forraging for something )

3b- It is also rude to ignore characters attempting to make a direct conversation or interaction. Give the player a response to at least let thier character know your character does not wish to interact.

4- Do not play 'Omni' characters. No one can see, hear, smell, sense or detect everything around them. It can also spoil gameplay for others if you try to have your character get involved in multiple non-related conversations. The squares on the map are large enough to provide privacy in conversation between groups in the same square.

OOC and IC

OOC: means "out of character" such as when one is posting a small question or comment. These should be kept to a minimum.
IC: In character, so that players know when you are back in character.

Player Categories & Character Limits:

The amount of XP you have earned determines how many characters you are permitted to have.

Novice player - 1 character + 1 major NPC (advances when character reaches LV 10)
Basic Player - 2 characters + 2 major NPCs (advances when they both reach LV 15)
Advanced Player - 3-4 characters + up to major 5 NPCs (advances when they all reach LV 30)
Expert Players - get 1 bonus character (5 total) + 7 major NPCs

We encourage players to try diffrent pokemon species. No more than 7 major characters (PC & NPC) of 1 species (including evolutions) will be permitted to any player in any one time.

All major Characters -must- have a character sheet filled out and be approved by the Lake Eerie Staff before they can be added to the game.

Fighting/Hunting

When you are fighting or hunting, you make the attack, but the target's player decides the damage. I know this means that the opponent can make it so they take no damage ever, but that's considered bad form and is decidedly better then having your character's leg shattered without you being able to do anything. Here's an example:
(Dark's player) "Dark lowered his horn, preparing to stab Thor in the throat". (gives intention)
(Thor's player) "Thor brought his horn down to meet Dark's, thus pushing it aside, although it scratched him in the process. He could feel the venom race in."
It is good form to lose about half your fights or hunts.

Trainers/Items

If you happen to be caught by a Trainer, you either have to escape or lose your character. You can keep playing it as long as your Trainer is at Lake Eerie, but will only be able to write from the Pokemon's perspective, so if you're trapped in a Pokeball, this is kind of dull.

You may NOT play a Trainer as a player character. There are plenty of on-line Pokemon games that allow you to play Trainers. We are trying for something completely different. However, durring the 'Fall' season at Lake Eerie, a human NPC may be used to help remove unwanted an abandoned characters from the game. These NPCs are very temporary and may only be approved by this game's owner.

Rare candy, antidotes, and all those other neat items do not exist, as far as you are concerned. You are wild Pokemon. If you find any, it will be at the game owner's discretion. So saying, if you are poisoned, you are allowed to find an herb or something to heal yourself!

Gaining XP

Experience Points are tallied weekly or so. Every 10 points of XP, you go up a level. Evolution may occur once your character reaches the required level. You gain XP through interesting posts, good backgrounds, being imaginative, and through pictures. Short '1 to 2 liner' posts will not recieve XP. You do not gain XP through fighting unless it is in your Pokemon's personality to do so. Any battles for the sheer heck of fighting will be frowned upon!

The weekly cut off for posts in the XP tally is Friday at midnight, PST.

Non-Player Characters

Once you have shown you can handle characters in the RPG, it is possible to create and use NPC characters. NPCs can be of any Non-Legendary Pokemon type and begin at any level. These characters are for developing plots for your character to gain XP from (Mates, sibblings, parents, friends or enemies of your PC character, for example). NPC's do not gain XP, but can evolve if necessary. NPCs are also subject to death or other removal by a moderator with out the character's player's consent.
NPCs can be defined by 2 types:
1- Perminent: These are NPCs who are in the game steadily. They may 'migrate' away from your character (at which time they are dormant and should not be posted for)and return when needed.
2- Disposable: These NPC's are in the game for a very short time. Thier interaction should be limited and once they are gone, they do not return. (Most of these are food or enemies)
Do not flood the game with unnessesary NPC interaction. Unnessesary interaction includes:
1. - Eating, Sleeping, Mating, or general interaction not involving a PC character.

Evolution

~For pokemon with more than 1 evolution w/ or w/o a stone(IE: Pidgey)
Level 16 to evolve the first time & Level 32 to evolve again.
~For pokemon with 1 evolution or who need a stone to evolve at all (IE: Growlithe)
Level 25
~For bug pokemon and other pokemon with a motionless pupa phase:
Level 20 to evolve the first time & Level 25 to evolve again.
~For ALL permitted pre-evolved Legendary pokemon:
Level 40 to evolve to 'Legendary Form'
Please note: Some pokemon in this game have evolutions added from thier original forms (IE: Absol, Furret) or have been given a higher level of evolution by thier creator (IE: Erinochiropt evolves at level 50). If you are not certain of the level your pokemon may evolve, or if it has more evolutions, please look through the pokedex or ask a moderator.

If your Pokemon needs a stone to evolve, post a message to Non-Lake Eerie when you want to evolve and we shall sort something out.

Lake Eerie Time Table

REAL TIME ---------(equals)---------Lake Eerie Time

365 days ............................ 2.5 Seasons
146 days ............................ 1 Season
73 days ............................. 1 'Month'
8 days .............................. 1 day (4 morning & 4 night)

Changes in the time of day, weather, seasons & moon phases will be posted to announcements on the games Y-group site.

Powerplaying

This means making your pokemon super powerful and doing unusual things for its species. If you do this, you will be warned, then moderated, then banned if it continues. Moderated means your account will be set so that your emails must be approved individually by a moderator before they can be posted to the list. It is reserved for players who mess with the game in a godmoding/outrageous fashion.

Due to problems we've had with low leveled characters using far too powerful a move, there are guidelines for certain kinds of powers.

Psychic Powers

1- Telepathy (sending messages via the mind). Psychic Pokemon may broadcast thoughts to others via Telepathy, but can not control who does and does not receive the message. You must be within the same square on the map to receive or trasmit telepathic messages with another character.

2- Mind Read- This may only be used with permission from another character. So, no cheating n' avoiding other characters because they think bad things about your character ^_~ !!

3- Teleportation:: This move has created many problems for us in the past, so these guidelines are very strict.

A. You may only teleport to places your character has been to once it has started in the RPG.

B. Teleportation Allowances for Psychic Type Pokémon::

Low level:: May teleport 1 square on the map per Lake Eerie day. -NO Passengers!-

Mid Level:: May teleport 2 squares on the map alone -or- 1 square on the map with a passenger smaller than the character's size per Lake Eerie day.

High Level:: May teleport 3 squares on the map alone -or- 1 square on the map with a passenger equal to or less than the character's size per Lake Eerie day.

Advanced Lv.:: May teleport 3 squares on the map alone -or- 2 squares on the map with a passenger equal to or less than the character's size -or- 1 square on the map with a passenger larger than the character's size per Lake Eerie day.

Note:: Non-Psychic types that wish to learn Psychic type moves will only receive 1/2 the allowable power of the move learned.

Ghosts have restrictions due to past problems with them. If you're interested in playing a ghost type pokemon you must read this.

Breeding

All potential litters must be approved by the Lake Eerie Staff before conception. The maximum litter size is 5 for all pokemon who will be caring for thier young. (IE: Birds, mammals, dragons, etc.)

Your character must be at least level 16 to breed, or with special dispensation from one of the moderators. Unless there is some strong reason why it should work, your chosen mate must be a species similar, or the same, to your own. This means prey/predator relationships are highly unlikely - dog pokemon (Vulpix, Frost, Growlithe, Houndour) will mate freely within those species, and meowth and sneasle can interbreed. See the Crossbreeding Guide for a list of all regular cross breeding possibilities in the game.

With offspring of two different species, expect half to resemble one parent, and the other half the other - ie: a Nidorina and an Ootachi could produce two Otachi and two Nidoran. The Otachi may have some Nidoran features - ie, blue or pinkish colouring, ability to use poison attacks... Actual hybrids, where the physical form resembles both equally, are especially rare and have a lower survival rate. Hybrids are not permitted as your first character, and only may be permitted if relationships between current characters allow hybrids to be born (ie: such as Azure and Tachi).

Offspring can be taken or adopted out as PCs or NPCs. Newborns starting as PCs begin at level 1 (instead of 5).

Breeding group rules for Pokemon of mixed species

As it has come to pass that there are now some pokemon with multiple species backgrounds who do not resemble thier majority genetic species... here are the rules for those who have the body of one species, but are geneticly, half or more of another:
Genetic Heritage in Breed group compatibility to number of Offspring ratio:
Less than 1/4 = 0
...............1/4 = 1 or 2
...............1/2 = 3 or 4
...............3/4 = 5

Unless you have plans to use the offspring of your characters, or have other players waiting to adopt them, they will need to 'leave home' like all wild animals do, or suffer Darwin's effect.

Offspring born 'defective' should also suffer the most common effects of these malformities.

Sick of Your Characters?

You can kill them off, retire them off, or turn them into NPCs (see PC to NPC Conversion, below). If you go absent, unannounced, for a lengthy time and your characters are an essential part of a plot, then the players left with that plot retain the right to take over your characters. In this case your characters are regarded as NPCs this means that they can be killed off at the whim of the players or moderators.

If you decide to leave, you can offer your characters up for adoption, but once again, if no one wants them then you must face the fact that they may be killed or used as a plot device. If you are taking a leave of absense and plan to come back, please let us know and make sure you leave your characters away from a plotline! If you disappear without warning in the middle of a crucial story, then whatever happens, happens, and you cannot come crawling back saying "I don't want Floppy to die, bring her back to life."

IDLE CHARACTERS

Due to the problems created by extended idleness of characters in threads that would be active otherwise, the following condition applies to ALL characters, reguardless of player activity. ALL characters that lay idle for 6 weeks will be moved to the 'Inactive Characters' Page. At which point the players have two weeks to take the option of reactivating them at a reduced level as described on the page. After the two weeks are up, inactive characters are open for any player to use as a plot device or adopt as thier own PC or NPC as the mods grant.

PC to NPC Conversion and Vice Versa

Players who want to convert an NPC into a PC may do this through one of two ways: if you have a character slot available and the NPC is unevolved, you may, after getting approved a new character sheet for it, change it to PC with a maximum of 5 levels (0 XP).

If the NPC has been played for a while, you may switch it out with one of your current PCs, changing your old PC into an NPC. Players with an old 'played-out' PC they are tired of might consider trading it in for a fresh new character. The rules for this are as follows:

The new PC will start with 2x's the old PC's level as its XP. For example: If Jimim were to trade Tachiguy in for a new PC, the new PC would begin with twice Tachiguy's level (100) as his starter XP (200) for a starting level of 25.

The maximum amount of XP a converted PC may start with is 200. The maximum level it can start at is 25.

The restrictions are:

A player may use this conversion a maximum of 3 times.

The character downgraded to NPC status may not be converted back. These NPCs are subject to the same expendability as all other NPCs.

This conversion may not be used on an evolved pokemon if the level is insufficient. (The maximum starting level is 25, so this bars 3rd stage pokemon from being given PC status.) However, it may be used for pokemon that were given 'baby' forms after their initial nintendo creation : Marril, Pikachu, jigglypuff, clefairy, jynx, magmar, electabuzz, and also for eevee.

The new 'PC' should not be a newborn pokemon, but the conversion -can- be used for a more played out & older NPC kit. (Starting a PC newborn is fine, but outside of trading places with another PC.)

The new 'PC' may not be a legendary pokemon.

This conversion may not be used to boost the XP of an already existing PC.

Why all the rules and restrictions?
To keep things fair, and to prevent powerplaying as well as unrealistic play. Some people here have worked for years creating their characters, building their personalities and gaining special abilities and experience, and it is unfair to allow people to come in at a more powerful level than them. Also, maintaining a certain level of realism is vital. The environment created by the game would be destroyed by unbelievable actions. We have generally found that the best writers and players are more than happy to start with things basic and allow their characters to grow, and the power-hungry players who can't write normally get themselves beaten down and eventually give up, thus meaning that as far as Lake Eerie goes, nearly all the players are good writers with interesting ideas.

Logs
The Logs are the stories we write, cooperatively. They are basically what this game is all about creating! Stories! If you feel your character is doing something noteworthy, then store all the relevant emails and cut and paste them together, taking out any OOC comments or irrelevant bits. These are also helpful for new players, who may not have a good idea of what is going on and do not wish to read over 120,000 posts!

If you have read all the way down to here, you're probably interested in joining! So come on in!

Disclaimer: All the artwork and ideas on these pages are the property of their creators, and the Lake Eerie RPing system, whilst fairly basic, is the property of the Moderating Committee, please do not use the specifics without our express permission. Also, anybody who steals artwork, character concepts or original Pokemon from this site, and the Lake Eerie group, will have to face the wrath of Ootachi-sami, and he'll eat anything. You have been warned!